Skip to main content

On KLIBF.

It looks like I may be at the KL International Bookfair the whole gorram time, looking after a certain booth. I'm not sure the booth is under what name yet but I assume its Suarasuara Publications. Or it could be RA Fine Arts. Or maybe even Koperasi Penjual Buku Malaysia or something similarly proper- and baku-sounding.

If you're visiting KLIBF and braving the smelly crowds, don't forget to say hi to me! I'll update details on my booth location when I get them. Hopefully today, but I excel in inefficiency so I make no promises!

UPDATE: I'll be at Booth #3030 at Tun Razak Hall 3.

Things to look forward to during KLIBF: cheap Dawama magazines (okay, maybe you don't buy them, but I have an odd fascination reserved solely for "approved" Malay-literature), new PTS books (am hoping to get some modernised Malay classics) and fringe literature.

One example of fringe literature I think could be Amirul Fakir's new independently published book, Mea Culpa, an anthology of short stories in Malay. I'm not sure when they're going to launch it, but it's going on sale at the KLIBF at the booth I'll be at, and also at RA Fine Arts Gallery, where I work (most of the time).

There's also an art exhibition at the same gallery starting this Saturday, also called Mea Culpa, and it features artworks inspired by the short stories in Amirul Fakir's book.

Personally, I haven't read it yet (the books haven't yet left the press as I write this), but from the little excerpts I've read in the little promo books they've left around the exhibition, Mea Culpa looks like it will be a fun read. Imagine Kafka at his trippiest or a Malaysian-themed Jorge Luis Borges and you're probably halfway there.

I'll try to blog more about the exhibition later, which to me is the most interesting since I started working here in RA Fine Arts Gallery. That is, if they have some sort of free wireless net access at the book fair. I highly doubt it though but hey you never know.

Comments

  1. Don't think I'll be able to make the KLIBF, dude. So counting on your observations... ;)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That's okay. Not sure what sort of obeservations I'll be making since I'm gonna be chained to a chair and table most of the time :D

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I'm going to Clarion West!

So yeah! I'm going to Clarion West this year! If you didn't know, Clarion West is a really awesome science fiction and fantasy writing workshop that runs for six weeks in summer every year at Seattle and is usually taught by a faculty of award-winning authors and editors. Many students who attend this workshop also go on to have illustrious writing careers of their own too. I've been meaning to attend this workshop (or its sister workshop, Clarion UCSD, which is the original Clarion workshop but runs in San Diego around the same time) for years now but never had the courage to apply. Many reasons as to why: didn't think I'd have money for the most part, didn't think I was good enough, didn't think I could leave work long enough, didn't think I could leave family behind, etc. But something sparked inside of me late last year. I felt I should at least give it a go this time round. So I did. They requested a sample of my best work and an applicatio...

REVIEW: Pinball, 1973 by Haruki Murakami.

UPDATE: My Wind/Pinball review can be found here . ISBN: n/a Publisher: n/a Paperback: 160 pages In Murakami fan circles, simply owning a copy of Pinball, 1973 is a mark of hardcore-ness. Like Hear the Wind Sing before it, Haruki Murakami does not allow English translations of Pinball, 1973 to be published outside of Japan. Back in the 80s, Alfred Birnbaum translated it into English and Kodansha published it as a novel for Japanese students who wanted to improve their English. While the English edition of Hear the Wind Sing continues to be reprinted and sold in Japan (and available for a moderate sum via eBay, see my review ), Kodansha stopped its reprint runs of the English edition of Pinball, 1973 and has now become a collector's item, fetching vast amounts of money on auction sites and reseller stores. Last time I checked, the cheapest copy went for USD$2500. Of course, Murakami addicts or the curious can always download a less than legal PDF of the book, painst...

Reading List Update.

Haven't done one of these in ages! I am currently reading: Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino I am sooooo in love with this book. It's a book that makes you think and reflect on imagination, the human condition, society and life using cities as a frame and guide. Also, Marco Polo is one cool dude. The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins I'm reading this very slowly. I started reading this back in October... only half-way through... Is it any good? It makes for interesting reading but if Dawkins thinks he can stop people believing in God by writing this book, then I can only say that's one heckuva climb up Mount Improbable. I have recently finished: 14 Oct 2006: The Malayan Trilogy by Anthony Burgess because of its many "controversial" elements (racial stereotypes mostly) many people here will pass over it. A pity, because not only is it a very good caricature of Malayan/Malaysian society, it also serves as a warning of what things could become (have become?). Ap...